“No, as far as I know.” Jessup paused. When he spoke again his voice was thoughtful. “According to the story I heard ... legend really ... he disappeared. They never found him and though we’ve wisely removed all record of him, his name is still used to describe our failures: those among us, that is, who refuse Cavesword without indoctrination. Somewhere, they say, he is living, in hiding, waiting to undo Caveswork. As Cave was the anti-Christ so he, or rather another like him, will attempt to destroy us.”
“Not much chance of that.” Butler’s voice was confident. “Anyway, if he was a contemporary of Cave he must be dead by now.”
“Not necessarily. After all Mr Hudson was a contemporary and he is still alive.” Jessup looked at me then; his eyes, in a burst of obsidian light, caught the sun’s last rays. I think he knows.
4
There’s not much time left and I must proceed as swiftly as possible to the death of Cave and my own exile.
The year of Cave’s death was not only a year of triumph but one of terror as well. The counteroffensive reached its peak in those busy months, and we were all in danger of our lives.
In the South, groups of Baptists stormed the new Centers, demolishing them and killing, in several instances, the Residents. Despite our protests and threats of reprisal, many state governments refused to protect the Cavite Centers and Paul was forced to enlist a small army to defend our establishments in those areas which were still dominated by the old religions. Several attempts were made to destroy our New York headquarters; fortunately, they were all apprehended before any damage could be done though one fanatic, a Catholic, got as far as Paul’s office where he threw a grenade into a waste-basket, killing himself and slightly scratching Paul who had, in his usual fashion, been traveling nervously about the room, getting out of range at the proper moment.
The election of a Cavite-dominated Congress eased things for us considerably, though it made our enemies all the more desperate.
Paul fought back. Bishop Winston, the most eloquent of the Christian prelates and the most dangerous to us, had died, giving rise to the rumor, soon afterwards confirmed by Cavite authority to be a fact, that he had killed himself and that, therefore, he had finally renounced Christ and taken to himself Cavesword.
Many of the clergy of the Protestant sects, aware that their parishioners and authority were falling away, became, quietly, without gloating on our part, Cavite Residents and Communicators.